


stop crying and let's see you smile

by Adrien_mode



Series: Lights, Camera, Reaction [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Exploitation, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, adrien uses chat as a coping mechanism, is it working?? eh, ladynoir if you squint, marichat too, plagg is trying his best, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-01-16 01:29:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21262877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adrien_mode/pseuds/Adrien_mode
Summary: Being a young model can be pretty tough. Paparazzi, crazy fans, endless photo shoots... Unfortunately being a model gets even harder for Adrien when his usual photographer manipulates him into taking some... unfavorable photos





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HEyy yall, times be rough so here's an angsty Adrien vent fic cause I be projecting, not super proud of this but I was up till 2am making it so .. must post
> 
> Apart from doing this til 2AM I also did this in one sitting so please excuse any mistakes!
> 
> Also, the scenes in question are semi graphic and heavily heavily implied! so proceed with caution!

The faint sound of cameras being put back in their cases and equipment being folded up and put away could be heard throughout the photo set.

Adrien's main photographer was looking through his camera while the very few others where packing up to go.

In the nearby dressing rooms Adrien was also packing up to go. As the day was ending so was his busy schedule, and the chance to go home to relax was something he was somehow really looking forward to. This photo shoot was unusually later than his normal afternoon ones, so very much like Plagg, going home and eating dinner was fresh on his mind.

"Come on Adrien, hurry up and change so we can get out of here and get some Camembert!" Whined Plagg who was sitting atop the dressing room vanity examining all the makeup and various accessories to pass time while Adrien was undressing in the background. The photo shoot was a very classy one and Adrien was currently taking off his slacks and unbuttoning his dress shirt. Then hanging them on hangers.

"What do you think I'm doing Plagg?" Adrien then laughed softly. "For once I actually care about getting some food as much as you do."

He slipped on his black tee shirt and reached for his jeans when the dressing room door jiggled and opened.

Plagg instantly darted inside the vanity drawer while Adrien, totally freaked, grabbed his pants to cover his bare legs. Even though his shirt almost went past his boxers.

Adrien apparently didn’t lock the door because hey it's been a long day people forget stuff! But also because the photography crew on set that day only included 4 people, including the actual photographer director so there weren't many people around to worry about walking in. Adrien was just going to be in and out. Speaking of walking in, the door was shut so obviously Adrien was still in there who wouldn't knock first before entering a _ dressing _ room? 

Well apparently it was Adrien's main photographer, Vincent. And not only did he not knock on the door, but when he walked in he shut the door behind him.

"Woah woah, Vincent still getting dressed in here!" Adrien spluttered out eager for him to leave. Maybe he didn't notice Adrien getting dressed in the back when he walked in.

"Adrien! Sorry to intrude, I just had to catch you before you left..." Vincent had his back against the dressing room door he just shut when his fingers found the lock and very subtlety turned it.

"Okay Vincent, I'd love to help with whatever you need but can this wait? Maybe until I have pants on?" Adrien shifted where he stood extremely flustered.

"Sure sure, but Adrien before I go, I just wanted to let you know that you're such a wonderful model..." Vincent finally stepped away from the door and closer to Adrien.

Adrien nervously laughed quietly and took a half step back. "Thanks?"

"I don’t think I’ve ever been so inspired by a client before, would you perhaps have a more... Personal photo shoot for me?" 

Adrien went from feeling awkward to extremely uncomfortable. He wished he could grab his stuff and leave but he couldn't bring himself to move. "Um... Personal?"

"Just you and me for... a more private shoot. Won't take too long I know you have a strict schedule, just while I have my camera out and you’re here."

It took a hot second for Adrien to form any words. Vincent had been his photographer for years and he's never heard anything like this before. Well actually, Vincent _does frequently _shower him with praise and compliments. Though Adrien chalked that up to his odd and eccentric personality. This was just weird...A _personal photo shoot?..._

Though Adrien didn't have any reason to distrust him, he felt like there was a rock in his stomach.

Adrien mulled on his words unsure of what to say. "Uhhhhh iiiiiii'm really not sure, it's getting kinda late and I wouldn't want to miss dinner so-"

"Don't worry! We can just do it in here and it'll be over before you know it. You know how it is when inspiration strikes! Inspiration waits for nobody!"

"Uh..." Adrien looked over at the vanity Plagg was hiding in briefly before looking back to Vincent.

"I suppose if it won't take too long..."

"Can I just get my clothes on first?" Adrien went to put his jeans on, but Vincent closed the distance between them in the already smallish room.

"Wait, for this one, I think the less clothes the better."

Adrien looks up from his jeans to Vincent. “Wh- uhm... This is-, this isn’t for a magazine or something...is it?...”

Vincent raises his hands defensively. “No! Of course not! These pictures will only be between you and me. Think of it as…eh... a personal project, just between the two of us.”

Adrien is unsure again. Everything about this screams weird and creepy. He wants to say no, leave and never think about this ever again, but what if Vincent asks again at the next photo shoot? Or the next? With how insistent Vincent is being It might be better just to take a few pictures and get it over with. Even though Adrien would rather eat Camembert for the rest of his life than do something as awkward and embarrassing as what's currently unfolding. He has to see Vincent at least 3 times a week for different assorted photo shoots, the last thing he wants is to make every one awkward and miserable if he could just rip the band aid off here and now. Despite all the red alarms going off he tries to muster up every ounce of his classic Chat Noir courage and tough it out.

The sooner Vincent gets his pictures, the sooner he can leave, easy...right?

“Okay well, what do I have to do then?”

Vincent smiles and gets the camera he’s been holding ready, looking through the lense he hums. “Just go ahead and give me some poses!”

Adrien sighs and dishes out his typical stuff. A soft smile, the occasional head tilt, all while changing his hand positions. When it comes to posing, Adrien really could do it in his sleep. He has a few sets of poses memorized that for different events he will cycle through. And with this shoddy shoot he doesn't really need to break out any show stopping poses so he settles for his mundane stuff. Wanting to just get this over with, but Vincent doesn't seem to be enthused over what Adrien’s doing. 

“Come on Adrien, not a lot you’re doing is speaking to me at all, where’s the passion? The fire?”

Adrien slouches with a hand on his hip already fed up. “I think I left all my “passion” at the last 3 hour shoot we just finished.”

Vincent perks up a bit and continues to take photos of an exasperated Adrien. “Okay okay I can work with a little bit of sass, a pinch of spice! Not bad!”

Though his perk is soon gone when Vincent lowers his camera and taps his chin, staring at Adrien as if he were a tough math equation.

“Still missing something though… How about we lose the shirt, the black with stripes, very over done, very plain. A little loss of wardrobe will surely add something…”

Adrien looks down at his shirt feeling the bottom of it as he weighs his options. He decides to just take off his shirt really quick and put it back on after a few seconds. Although photos of just him in his boxers? Not reaally something he wants someone having a large quantity of. After his shirt goes over his head, he drops it to the ground and immediately crosses his arms tightly against his body. 

Vincent shuffles. “I just… these poses are killing me. I don’t mean to nag Adrien but I just want to, you know, get this right! Here let me help you out.” 

Adrien's expression changes as Vincent walks over to him and grabs his arms, changing their positions. Vincent settles on putting Adrien's arms over his head like he wanted them to touch his shoulder blades. This isn’t the first time Vincent has guided Adrien in a shoot, but this is the first time it’s ever felt so… weirdly intimate. Adrien’s body is more or less limp to allow Vincent to easily guide his limbs but his face is tense with so much emotion. Though Adrien wouldn’t be able to name a single one if he tried. He feels… sick? Yeah that’s a good umbrella word. 

Vincent is talking about something while posing Adrien and taking pictures, but Adrien mostly isn’t listening. Adrien’s gaze wanders over to the vanity where Plagg is and sees his little head poking out. The two exchange mutual expressions equivalent to what the hell is going on and what can I do to get out of here. When Adrien is snapped back to the current situation by the feeling of a hand on his waist and fingertips inside the band of his boxers.

“Woah! Um I definitely want to keep these on!” Adrien stumbles backwards and pushes Vincent's hands away trying not to panic. “I-I, I think this photo shoot is over, I need to go home like, right now.”

Vincent puts his hands up like he’s trying to pacify a scared animal. “Ah Adrien, Adrien! please don’t be like that. As your director of photography I'm only doing my job of making the subject...as beautiful as it can be.” 

Vincent punctuated the last part by caressing Adrien’s cheek, but he turned his head away almost in disgust.

“N-no I… I need to get my clothes and leave, I… I’m sorry Vincent but I don’t want to do this shoot anymore_ . _”

Vincent stayed quiet for a moment before closing his camera up and taking a step back from Adrien.

“...Fine I do believe you’ve long had your fair share of pictures for today, we can pick this up another time when you’re in a better mood perhaps?” Adrien who still had his head turned, whipped forward again at that last part. He wants to do this… _ again?? _

Looking at a watch on his wrist Vincent continued. “I was right that didn’t take long at all huh? I trust you have lots of time to get home before dinner is set at the Agreste table. I will see you next week Adrien.”

Vincent walked back towards the door while Adrien stood still. “By the by Adrien, this photo shoot was just between us okay? Don’t tell _ anyone, _ wouldn’t be fair for me to have to share _ every _photo I take with Paris, now would it? Ciao!”

The door shuts as Vincent leaves the room. Adrien runs a hand through his blonde hair and lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Taking a couple steps back he feels for the wall and slides down it to sit on the floor and try and sort out what just happened. Brows furrowed and eyes wide, they scan around the floor as if the answers are somewhere in the hard, rough carpet. The room was still for a long moment and Plagg took that has an okay to come out from hiding behind the vanity.

The kwami quickly flew over to the side of Adrien, trying to look into his eyes which were facing the floor, but soon drifted over to Plagg when he spoke.

“Are you okay?... Geez who knew he was such creep right? If he wants to do that again he can try taking a picture of my cataclysm instead.”

Adrien gave a tiny smile.

“Yeah, I’m fine...thanks Plagg…” Adrien meekly reached for his shirt and put it back on.

“Well you don’t look fine.”

From the ground still, Adrien slipped his feet into his jeans while he searched for words. “...I know you...probably don’t understand this Plagg… but...I...that… that could’ve been really bad…” Adrien ran both hands through his hair this time, eyes back on the floor, and in a shaky voice said, “I mean… It _ was _ bad but… I could’ve… he… it could have been so… much _ worse _…”

Plagg gave a sympathetic smile in an attempt to ease Adrien's thoughts. “I’ll say, you could have been wearing your Ladybug underwear.”

Adrien looked offended for a split second before he softly laughed and playfully shooed Plagg away. “Shut up Plagg, I do _ not _have Ladybug underwear.”

Plagg smiled when his little joke got Adrien to smile too. But then it faded again...Adrien’s right when it comes to helping in serious situations or just serious situations in general, Plagg doesn't really have a clue. When Adrien is upset with his home life or he misses his mom distracting him always works… but sometimes Plagg realizes that distractions as a coping mechanism only goes so far. Sometimes he wishes he was as good as Tikki when it comes to these kinds of things.

“...Look Adrien… You're right, I don’t fully understand your human problems sometimes, but I know an unpleasant situation when I see one...I think… we’re tired… we had a long day so far, why don't we go home, get some Camembert, and try to get some rest, huh? I think Gorilla’s probably outside waiting anyhow.”

Adrien stands up grabbing his white over shirt and his messenger bag. “Y-yeah I think I could use some of that...well… not the Camembert part, that’s just you.”

Plagg phases into Adrien’s bag slung over his shoulder then pops his head out. “And that's the way I like it! Just thinking about sharing what little Camembert I have, with a hungry growing boy like you? That sounds like a nightmare!” 

For a dramatic effect Plagg finishes his thought by putting his arm on his forehead and pretending to swoon.

Slipping on his orange converse on his way to the door, Adrien chuckles again. “Wow you say that as if I don’t feed you 10 times your weight in cheese every day.”

“Hey with all this running around and akuma chasing it should really be 15 times.”

The soft click of the dressing room door knob is heard before the slight creak made by the door being opened. Adrien looks around before leaving. The place is pretty much empty. “Okay Plagg, when we get home I’ll make it 15.” 

* * *

“What’s wrong Kitty? You’ve been unusually unenergetic today, I mean, not a single cat pun? Something must be up.” 

Ladybug smiled at Chat Noir awaiting a response. The two were standing on a rooftop shortly after an akuma battle. Both Ladybug and Chat still had a while before they transformed so Ladybug decided to strike up a conversation. Though Chat was a little taken off guard from the question, he recovered quickly.

“What me? I’m _ paw _ sitively _ purrr _ fect, M’lady. _ Cat _ pletely _ meow _ gnificent, and I am not _ kitten _ with you everything's _ feline _ gre _ -” _

Ladybug laughed as she playfully waved a hand in Chats face as if to prevent the flow of cat puns leaving his mouth. “Haha okay okay I think that’s enough cat puns! Please no more!”

Chat beamed. “You asked for it M’lady!”

Ladybug retrieved her hand from Chat’s space bubble but stayed close to him. “But seriously Chat, if something is bothering you I want you to know you can confide in me… I care about you Chaton…”

Chat’s soft expression deepened as he looked into Ladybugs eyes that were filled with nothing but compassion, before he looked away. “I…”

It’s been a few days since Adrien’s last photo shoot. Over the weekend he wasn’t particularly worried about anything at all but when Monday came and his next shoot was rapidly approaching, he began to overthink how it might go due to the events during Friday nights shoot.

Ladybug patiently waited for Chat to form more words that thankfully weren’t cat puns.

“...I...have… a friend…” Chat looked at Ladybug again to see if she was following. She nodded to let him know it’s okay to continue.

“Who...has got to do something today… and they can’t get out of it, but they do it all the time so I was thinking it's no big deal, but… they’re… a little worried that… something...unfavorable... might happen to them and… I _ wish _I could give them advice but… I just don’t know what they should do.” 

Ladybug looked lost in thought for a second while she was analyzing the situation Chat presented. “Um… well… if your friend is worried about being in danger… we could always show up and… make sure nothing happens to them.”

Chat looked sheepish all of a sudden and his voice raised for a moment. “Uhhmm I dunno about that, um, the thing is I personally have something going on at the same time and I know my friend wouldn’t be able to do his job very well with Ladybug watching him the whole time…”

Ladybug was quiet again while she tried to come up with another solution. “Well… I suppose if your friend has to be there without us… the best thing to do if unprepared for danger is to try and avoid attention and maybe informing someone they trust that will be there too-”

The sudden beeping from Ladybugs earrings cuts her off.

“I don’t fully understand the situation but, if anything happens call me okay? I wish your friend the best of luck, though I’m sure everything will work out.” She smiles sympathetically at Chat and he returns it with a weak one.

“Thanks L.B…”

“Any time Chaton. Au revoir!”

With that Ladybug zips away leaving Chat Noir alone on the rooftop. He turns to make his own departure. Luckily Adrien has a Mandarin class coming up before his shoot. That’ll give him some time to mull over his options. 

After what felt like an eternity his Mandarin class ended and was on his way to his photo shoot. Class really decides to go painstakingly slow when every tick on the clock sounds like one tick closer to an impending doom. He’s never felt like this before, why was he so scared? At least thinking about Ladybug’s reassuring words put him at some peace. Maybe she was right, probably nothing’s gonna happen. What's gonna happen is; Adrien is gonna walk in there have a completely normal shoot and then get in his car and move on to fencing. End of story. Yeah, end of story!

Walking up the steps to the building the shoot was taking place in, Adrien quietly hyped himself up.

“This is just a normal shoot, it’s just a normal shoot. They’ve always been normal shoots... Plagg, tell me it’s just a normal shoot.”

Plagg peeks out from Adrien’s shirt collar. “It’s just gonna be a normal shoot Adrien. You’ll be fiinnee. There’s no sense in worrying about stuff that might not happen, just live in the moment! That’s what I do and I’ve never had a worry in the world!”

Somehow Plagg’s nochalountness made Adrien feel better, but he still had a little queasiness in his stomach. Taking a deep breathe Adrien entered the building and further in found a bustling set.

“Huh. Lots of people around, maybe this’ll be a normal shoot after all.”

“See? I told you Adrien. Now get out there and do your thing.” Plagg zips from Adrien’s collar to the inside of his bag. Adrien walks into the hair and makeup department and meets with his stylist. Tucking his bag safely on the side of his designated vanity.

Makeup done, hair styled, Adrien was off to the main set to take some photos. Thankfully he didn’t have to dress out this time. After a few hours and what felt like a bajillion photos later a bell rang signifying the end of the photo shoot. Adrien almost lept at the chance to get off set and go grab his bag when Vincent stopped him.

“Adrien! Fantastic work today. This was an excellent shoot all these are perfect!” Vincent scrolled through his camera looking at the days work. Adrien fidgeted. 

“Yeah! Thanks… I have to get to fencing now so-” 

Adrien’s attempt to scoot by Vincent was interrupted. “_ Speaking... _of photo shoots Adrien, may I speak to you about something?” Something in Vincent's tone changed and Adrien didn’t like how.

The boy felt his blood go cold and he looked around slightly. The whole set was still bustling with people. Was he really trying to talk about this out here? In the open? Guess as long as he was in the middle of all these people he was fine.

“I have a feeling that you’d want to talk somewhere more secluded so why don’t we-”

“No!” Adrien exclaimed. Feeling silly he then cleared his throat and composed himself. “What I mean is, my fencing class starts soon and I don’t really mind talking out here, it’s fine.” Adrien punctuated his point with a nervous smile hoping it would sell.

Looking back down at his camera seemingly annoyed, Vincent murmured. “Okay… If you really want to run the risk of crew members seeing, I don’t know, pictures like this.” 

Vincent turned his camera to show what was on the screen; a rather out of context photo of Adrien from the other night.

Adrien cringed jolting to cover the screen. “Okay okay!” He seemed angry but after a still moment he resigned to defeat. Looking around to see if anyone was paying attention, he saw no eyes on him. Despite the multiple people in the room everyone seemed to have their own agenda. Outside of the two’s conversation, it looked like they were just talking about the shoot that was just finished.

“...What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone and delete those photos?”

A disgusting victory was painted all over Vincent’s face. “Follow me.”

Adrien gave one last glance towards the hair and makeup area where his messenger bag was before following Vincent.

Vincent led Adrien down a hallway into a new room. This room was _ significantly _smaller. Still part of the studio and obviously meant for taking pictures like most rooms in this place. The room was about the size of a big kitchen and almost empty. Sitting atop the rooms dark wood floor was one studio light and a backdrop with a stool in front of it. Across from the studio light was a black cabinet probably filled with various equipment. Adrien has seen setups like this enough times to know this setup is meant for portraits and head shots. Though whatever Vincent had in mind for this room was another story. 

Adrien walked into the room looking around. In this tiny, bare room Adrien felt more vulnerable than he ever did in the dressing room. Watching Vincent shut the door behind him, Adrien waited for something to happen.

Vincent stepped towards Adrien and he couldn't help but take small steps back not eager to see what Vincent’s gonna do when the distance between them is closed. Though when he approached Adrien all he did was point to the back of the room.

“See that stool over there?” Adrien turned. “Go sit.”

Cautiously walking to the back of the room Adrien sat on the small metal stool in front of the white backdrop. 

While looking through the lense Vincent adjusted his camera. “Alright Adrien go ahead and undress.”

Adrien hesitated. This was insane. Someone please please _ please _ open the door and save him _ right now. _

“_ Aye _, Adrien, the sooner you do what I say the sooner you can be done.”

With trembling hands Adrien slowly began to remove his white over shirt. _This can’t be happening this can’t be happening._ Brief white light flashed over Adrien as Vincent took more pictures. Adrien’s white shirt...then his black shirt were placed on the floor beside him. He then sat uncomfortably in his jeans, orange shoes shuffling in discomfort on the wood. 

“Don’t stop now Adrien.” Vincent egged on through a smile.

“I-I really don’t-...”

“_ Adrien,” _Vincent cut him off. Letting his camera dangle from the strap on his neck he advanced on Adrien, getting up in his space. “You’re really overthinking this…” 

Bending down Vincent pulled Adrien into multiple kisses. Locking up, Adrien’s shoulders tensed as he moved his hands in front of Vincent in a weak defense. Adrien had no idea how to react. Vincent’s hands traveled down Adrien’s sides and in his blonde hair.

The attempt to lean away from Vincent was returned with Vincent just leaning in closer. Adrien’s brain was too busy processing Vincent’s hand all over his bare torso, and the intensity of kisses on his lips, that he didn’t notice the man’s other hand fiddling with the button on his jeans until the zipper was being pulled down. Adrien made a noise in Vincent’s mouth, folding his right leg towards his body in an effort to close himself off, while his hands pushed Vincent away. 

_ This isn’t normal this shouldn't be happening...!_

Taking a shaky hand Adrien wiped his mouth and groaned in disgust. With pleading eyes he looked into Vincent’s and saw an emotion too abstract for Adrien to define. “W-why are you doing this Vincent, why am _ I doing this??...” _

Vincent sighed. “I already told you, your beauty inspires me Adrien…”

_ Gross gross gross gross _

“You sure have a funny way of being ‘inspired’.” Spat Adrien.

Vincent tried a different approach. “Here’s the deal Adrien, you cooperate with me, do what I say, but above all, stay _ quiet. _.. and I’ll delete the photos.”

Adrien frowned. This all sounded terrifying. Of course, the photos being deleted would be a win. But the implication of having to do _ whatever _Vincent says after getting a glimpse of what he truly wanted for the second time... it made Adrien’s chest hurt just thinking about it.

After a few moments without a response from Adrien, Vincent continued talking. “...If _ not... _ I suppose I could spread these around… an anonymous leak… for all of Paris to see. Strangers… your friends… what would your _ Father _think if he saw these?”

The very notion of that almost made Adrien want to snarl, or gag. He would probably just about die of humiliation if anyone saw these. But his _ friends?... _ his _ Father??... _ That sounded horrendous. Not only would that be disgustingly awkward, but if his father knew that someone was exploiting him to take lewd pictures, no doubt his life would be tortuous. He would probably never get to have a moment alone again without having to be next to a bodyguard _ … _ or keep him locked at home entirely... 

“If you leak those pictures, what makes you think I won’t tell everyone exactly who took them?”

Vincent gave a laugh. “You think anyone will believe you?? I mean look at you!” A hand gestured to a disheveled, half dressed Adrien. Adrien looked down at himself and any fire he had quickly went out.

“You’re not the same Adrien Paris thinks you are anymore. You're _ filthy. _ You want to tell someone? Well good luck getting them to even look you in the eyes after this.”

Adrien grimaced eyes scrunching shut. “Okay okay _ stop… _ as long as you keep your word…” Letting out a shaky breath, Adrien finished the sentence he almost couldn’t bare to make. “ _ ...I’ll do whatever you say… let's just...let’s just get this over with.” _

Vincent lifted his camera again. “Atta boy Adrien, now lets work on getting those pants off yeah?”

After a beat Adrien reluctantly slipped out of his shoes, followed by his jeans.

The soft flashes of light continued but stopped when Vincent got in Adrien's space again. Recoiling before he was even touched, Adrien sealed his lips expecting to be kissed again. Though Vincent bypassed his lips and instead decided to kiss on his neck which was somehow even more unpleasant.

Adrien despised that this was… technically his first kiss. Of course he’s been kissed before in a certain akuma situation, but this was the first time he was actually present and aware of what was going on. Oh how he wished this was like the other time. Kissed because of an akuma victim, but all forgotten once Ladybug used her miraculous. Unfortunately this was not like that time. This wasn’t an akuma victim, this was a disgusting man fully aware of his own actions, and Adrien wouldn’t be forgetting about it any time soon. Briefly Adrien wondered if all kisses would be so revolting. If he kissed Ladyb- _ no no no no no no, we do not need to think about her right now something else, literally anything else. _

Adrien’s eyes frantically looked around the room when he decided to count the ceiling tiles in his head.

_ One. Two. Th- _

Adrien squeaked when a hand slid up his thigh and into the side of his boxers. 

Trying miserably not to make any noises Adrien resumed counting the squares on the ceiling.

_ Onetwothreee. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine… T-ten… Ten……. _

In between the touches and kisses Adrien felt a hand get dangerously close to-

_ Eleven eleven eleven eleven eleven! _

Adrien’s eyes were screwed shut, he could not keep focus, and counting was becoming increasingly difficult. The kisses on his neck and hands on his sides ended up being nothing compared to the feelings he was currently getting since Vincent was now...H-he was now- Ugh why on _ earth _ was he reacting this way?! In his mind he wanted nothing more than to cataclysm his own face so why was his body having… _ other _ideas? No matter how disgusted Adrien was with the situation he couldn’t help but feel a heat throughout his body. 

Adrien’s hands were tightly at his sides gripping the side of the stool he was sitting on when Vincent started to whisper things in between kisses. “You’re doing great Adrien… you’re such a good boy…”

Adrien stifled a noise. “G-good?” 

God Adrien could almost feel his brain short circuit. He rarely is ever praised. But in this situation? He didn’t know what to think, he was so conflicted. It’s like his head was trying to go simultaneously go in 20 different directions at light speed and he hated it. He felt so helpless. 

“_ Very _ good, Adrien. Fantastico. Just… try and loosen up a little hm?” The spare hand that wasn’t in Adrien’s boxers was moved to his knee pushing it outwards, opening his legs more.

Arching his back and scrunching his shoulders, Adrien started to shake as he felt something building. His chest heaving up and down, It felt like he was gonna pass out when all of a sudden Vincent let go of Adrien and stepped back again.

Adrien opened his eyes to the lack of touch and the flashing of a camera. The feeling of a brick in his stomach combined with the dizzy spell he was having sent a wave of nausea over him. He was relieved that Vincent had finally stopped maybe this was finally it. Though his lower area said otherwise. He still had this desperate feeling, like an itch that was almost scratched but not quite. Adrien’s eyes squinted slightly due to another flash of Vincent's camera.

“A-are we done? C-can I...go now…?” Adrien asked in a hoarse voice.

“Not quite Adrien. Looks like you still have something to finish…” Vincent pointed to Adrien's groin While Adrien put two and two together.

“N-no that’s sick, I’m not doing anything like that for you and your perverted camera.”

Vincent shrugged “Ah well, I guess If I really have to do everything myself.”

“W-wait I-” Adrien spluttered as Vincent was on him again, this time pulling his dick out of his boxers and putting it in his mouth. 

“_ oH mY god ..!” _Adrien felt his face heat up again and involuntarily arched over Vincent. That was the most strange and unwelcome feeling Adrien had ever felt in his life, and it absolutely shoved him to the edge. He gave a strained moan and finished in Vincent’s mouth.

Vincent pulled away and let Adrien have a moment. 

Adrien was folded over his knees, his face resting in the nook of his elbow. Through labored breaths he whined. “...That’s...T-that’s it right? That has to be it...I… I want to go home…_ please?... _”

“I know Adrien, I know.” Vincent cooed. Petting Adrien’s hair, the blonde looked up. “...But I still have a prop that's begging to be used…” 

Adrien’s eyes went wide with terrifying realization when Vincent started to unzip his pants.

* * *

UGH these photo shoots are so long and boring! _ Adrien _thinks they’re long and boring? Well, he should try a photo shoot from Plagg’s perspective. At least he’s out there actually doing something. All Plagg has to do is sit in a bag for 3 hours with nothing but books and pens to entertain himself. Wonder how Adrien’s holding up anyway. Plagg pokes his head out of the bag and scopes the scene. There's one lady in the make up area putting stuff away in a case.

Deciding it wouldn’t hurt anything besides his boredom, Plagg ventures out to the set to see how Adrien's doing. Except when he gets there, there's only a handful of people dealing with equipment. That’s when Plagg’s heart drops, something is _ absolutely wrong. _Dashing around the room trying his best to stay out of sight, Plagg looks for Adrien. Upon making it to the other end of the room there's a hallway lined with doors. Quickly phasing his head through each door he finds offices and different photo sets that are either empty or have a few people in them, but none of them happen to be Adrien. 

Until he makes it to a tiny room with an unimpressive photo set. It’s emptyish aside from a man and a blonde kid. Except that the man is that creepy photo guy, who is taking pictures; and the blonde kid is_ his blonde kid, _who is currently on his knees and-

“_Hey! What do you think you’re doing!!?” _

The two flinch and immediately whip around to see the source of the voice. Upon seeing it belongs to a dark flying thing the two have completely different reactions.

“Plagg!” Adrien cries. While Vincent shrieks stumbling away from Adrien deeper into the room, trying to put himself away. 

“_What the hell!? What is that thing?!” _

Plagg got right up in Vincent’s face trying to look as big and threatening as possible. “_I’m your worst nightmare buddy, and you better pay attention cause I’m only gonna tell you this once. When I’m done with you you’re gonna delete any pictures or videos you have of him. And If I ever, EVER. Catch you messing with this kid, or any one else for that matter, I. Will. End. You.” _Plagg snagged Vincent’s camera from his neck and turned it to dust and broken pieces with his cataclysm.

_ “Kapeesh?!” _Adrien had never heard Plagg’s voice get so dark before.

Vincent was pressed up against the wall, looking scared out of his mind, all he could do was nod.

“_Then get outta here!!” _

Vincent ran to the door struggling to unlock it in his panic then bolting out. Plagg followed and made sure the door was shut and locked again so Adrien could have some time to compose himself.

When he turned around Adrien was slumped gathering up his clothes. Plagg flew over to Adrien to find him spitting into his white shirt.

“......Adrien…..?”

Plagg moved closer and brushed some of the stray blond strands of hair out of the way from Adrien’s eyes. Which upon closer inspection were a glossy red against green, tears spilling over.

“Are… you okay?”

Wiping away tears with the back of his hand, Adrien choked out a reply, voice raw with emotion. “Y-yeah… I’m fine…”

Trying to get the topic off of him Adrien spoke again. “You… you shouldn’t have revealed yourself like that Plagg.” He sniffled.

“Adrien, I had to! I… I couldn’t let him hurt you like that... Besides… I think I scared him pretty good, he probably won't be eager to try anything like that anytime soon.

Adrien just looked up at him with teary eyes.

“And...um, maybe if we’re lucky he’ll quit his job…” Plagg put on a smile in sympathy.

Adrien looked back down at the white shirt he was still holding. “...we’re everything _ but _lucky Plagg…I’m… I’m sorry you had to see that...”

Any smile Plagg had was gone. “No no Adrien, you don’t need to apologize for anything! I’m… I’m sorry you had to go through that… I-if I had only been here sooner this...this wouldn’t have happened…”

Adrien cleared his throat as he used the stool as support to stand up. “It’s not your fault Plagg…”

Plagg watched Adrien set the shirt down on the stool and slide into his blue jeans. He had no idea what to say, Adrien was hurting so much and Plagg felt like he was no help. Flying over to a little ways behind the stool, he picked up Adrien's black shirt and brought it to him. Adrien pulled up his pants and looked up at the shirt Plagg was holding. Sniffling he gave a tiny smile.

“Thanks Plagg.”

After Adrien was dressed it took a little while to get to the car which was unhappily waiting outside. He managed to convince Nathalie that he was coming down with something and to let him skip fencing, since they were already late. When they finally made it home, Adrien threw his bag in the corner of his room. Without saying a word, he went into the bathroom and shut the door. 

Plagg flew up to the door and put his ear up to it, he didn’t hear nothing besides the shower turning on. He gave a long sigh.

“Oh Adrien… I wish I knew how to help you…” 

_ What to do what to do _ ...Why is this so hard?? Plagg was only really good at cheering Adrien up through funny jokes and stuff. Being serious and helping him resolve his extreme trauma was unbelievably harder than it sounded. He didn’t know what to say, this kinda thing was way out of his ballpark...but... he _ did _know someone who it came naturally to.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien takes some time from school the day after the incident to do some healing in private but is interrupted when an akuma attacks. With the akuma victims special ability being the power to bring nightmares to life, Chat Noir finds that being transformed dosen't automatically put Adrien's problems on the back burner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theres nothing graphic mentioned in this chapter its mainly just an akuma battle! The amkumatized I used is from the episode Sandboy I took a lOT of insp from there haha I also accidentally went in a completely different direction than I originally wanted to go with this? So it maaayyy be 3 chapters now im not sure, anyways asdfghj enjoy!

“If you need any help putting frosting on those just give me a holler, Papa. I’ll be up in my room!” Marinette shouted from the top of the stairs leading into her room.

“Sure thing honey!” 

Further in her room she climbed up the second set of stairs to get up to her bed and flopped down on it with a dramatic sigh. 

“Another day Paris is saved by Ladybug only for her to come home to do chores and homework…”

“Such is the life of a teenage superhero Marinette. At least you got your chores done already!” Tikki reassured.

“True...Do you think I’d be able to take a little nap before I did my homework?”

Tikki made a noise like the notion was probably improbable.

“You’re right, If I ended up taking a nap _ now _it’d probably turn into one of those six hour long ones where I wake up at like 1:00 AM or something.”

Tikki giggled. “Yeah I think it’d be best if you just toughed it out now, Mari.”

“_SUGARCUBE! SUGARCUBE!” _

Marinette yelped in surprise as Plagg phased into the room without warning, practically screaming.

Tikki turned to face a very out of breath kwami. “Plagg? What on Earth are you doing here, is everything okay??” 

“Everything is _ not _okay!” He panted.

All the sudden surprise Marinette had was replaced with concern. In the handful of times Marinette has encountered with Chat Noir’s kwami, she’s always taken note on how easygoing and almost unprofessional he is no matter the situation. Something terrible must have happened for him to come here, of all places, acting in such a way.

“Plagg, what’s going on??” Marinette’s voice was strong and leveled, though her imagination was starting to run wild with what could have happened.

“I don’t know I don’t know! I just… something happened to Chat Noir today… something bad, and I can tell he’s hurting but I don’t know how to help!… He’s always gotten into moods occasionally where it’s hard for me to cheer him up but...this time I have no idea what I’m doing or what I need to do I need you guys to help me so I can help him_. _” Plagg finished desperately.

Tikki and Marinette looked at each other unsure what to make of the situation before Tikki spoke. 

“Plagg I need you to tell us what happened so we can help. If Chat Noir is hurting as much as you say he is he could be in real danger of becoming akumatized.”

Plagg’s eyes got big in fear for a moment as if that hadn’t even crossed his mind. He panicked unsure of how to tell the story. 

“Okay okay um, he, um…I don’t know how to say it, just imagine Tikki, that someone other than Marinette, no matter how much you pleaded not to, forced you to transform… but probably ten times worse…”

Searching for any hints on Tikki’s face that she understood what he was trying to get across, Plagg only saw it scrunch slightly in confusion. Marinette didn’t quite know what to make of it either.

He groaned in frustration. Plagg didn’t want to stay here too long because he wanted to be there for Adrien when he got out of the bathroom. Tugging on his whiskers he tried again.

“Ugh you know how humans do that weird thing where they put their mouths together? This weird guy forced him to do, er, something similar I think while taking pictures of him!”

Marinette’s face lit up in an awful realization of what Plagg was trying to get across. As Plagg continued his frustrations faded away to sadness.

“I can’t even get him to smile… I want to see to it that he’s okay again but… how...is the real question here.”

After a short moment Marinette was the first to speak.

“Plagg… when Chat Noir said… his friend was in danger earlier today… he… he was talking about himself… wasn’t he…”

Plagg nodded.

Marinette pushed her hand on her forehead in a sad grimace. “Ugh, poor Chaton… I should have known… I could have… I…”

Tikki stopped her. “There's no sense in thinking like that now Marinette. You couldn’t have known… and there's nothing we can do about that. All we can do now is be there for him and help him through what he’s going through.”

Marinette looked back to her kwami. “You’re right Tikki…” Before she could finish her thought Plagg interrupted her.

“I don’t have much time. I snuck out to consult you guys while he’s in the shower but he could be out at anytime, and he can’t be all by himself when that happens he needs someone right now.”

“You’re right, um, okay, so…” Marinette tried her best to stay cool and give Plagg her best advice, almost ready to jump out of bed and comfort Chat herself if need be.

“What he really would need is, um, someone, to um, to let him know that he is fully supported and never has to go through it alone. Tell him you’ll always be there for him if he needs someone to lean on or talk to. But um, i-it’s important you don’t push him to open up or anything… and it’s also important Plagg, to never ever make it seem like it was his fault... I don’t know... these kinds of situations require um, a lot of care… and time… he might not be okay for… a while…” 

Tikki chimed in. “But most important of all Plagg, you have to know that everybody process’ things and reacts to problems differently. No matter what advice we give you the best thing you can do is to stand by him and _ listen _ to what _ he _ needs. There’s only so much you can do, and he might not even want you to do anything. All you can really do then is be there for him when he does.”

Plagg thought to himself for a moment. “I don’t know what I’d do without you sugarcube...thanks for the advice you two, I better go.”

Marinette jumped up. “Wait Plagg! Here, let me get something for you to take to him.” 

Jumping out of bed she quickly slid down the stairs and opened the latch to exit her room. After a long moment she came back up with a small paper bag which she offered to Plagg.

“Here...there's a croissant with a few cookies in here. When Chat came over here for dinner he… he seemed really fond of our cooking so… I hope he will enjoy these…”

And with that, Plagg flew through the same wall he came in through. Leaving Marinette and Tikki alone again,

“...I hope Chat Noir will be okay…” Marinette solemnly looked back over to Tikki.

“...Don’t worry Marinette… Chat Noir is strong...he’ll be okay with time.”

Tikki looked back over to the spot where Plagg exited.

“At least I hope so…”

* * *

Phasing through a window, Plagg was back inside Adrien’s room. The bathroom door was still shut and the shower was still on, he must still be inside. Flying over to the door Plagg hovered in front of it for a moment. Unsure of what to do, before tapping on it.

“um...Adrien?... Are you okay in there?”

There was a moment where nothing happened before Plagg heard a muffled voice behind the door say that everythings fine.

Plagg backed up from the door and sat on the tiny white couch in the room to wait for Adrien. For once Plagg didn’t really care about eating Camenbert.

After about ten minutes the shower stopped. Plagg’s ear turned to the direction of the bathroom door.

He didn’t hear anything.

What felt like another ten minutes went by before the bathroom door slid open. Revealing a tired looking Adrien, dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a baggy tee shirt. Still wet, Plagg noted that Adrien didn’t bother to blow dry his hair, which is what he usually does when doing his whole shower routine thing. Adrien stood in the doorway for a brief moment before walking into the room. Plagg was hanging over the back of the couch.

“Hey bud!...” Adrien barely glanced at him. “...Do...do you feel better? At least a little bit?”

Plagg looked over Adrien as he was walking towards his bed giving a low energy thumbs up in response to Plaggs question. As the kwami was mulling over what to say next there was a short moment of silence. Broken by the sound of Adrien flopping down on his bed. Exhaling loudly.

Plagg remembered Marinette had given him some treats and decided to bring them over to Adrien.

“While you were in the bathroom, I got you a little somethin somethin!”

Adrien looked up slightly from his pillow to see Plagg holding up a tiny paper bag unmistakably from Marinette’s bakery. He could tell because it had the words ‘The Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie’ in fancy lettering on the front. The boy propped himself up on his elbows taking the bag and looking inside.

“Plagg how did you get this?”

Plagg only shrugged. “Eh, I have my ways.”

Adrien looked back up to Plagg squinting suspiciously. “You didn’t _ steal _from Marinette’s parents did you?”

“W-what?! Me?! Of course not you know me!” Plagg waved his arms in defense. Mayyybe he should have taken the treats out of the bag. Plagg didn’t quite have an excuse yet on why he and Marinette would be buddies that didn’t involve the word ‘Ladybug’. Luckily, somehow Adrien seemed somewhat satisfied with Plagg’s vague answers that he didn’t push it anymore.

“Thanks Plagg but you know my Father doesn't approve of me eating sweets like this…"

Adrien stared in the bag for a moment like inside he knew he wanted to but... couldn't.

"...Besides...I’m not really in the mood to eat anything right now.” Adrien murmured closing up the bag, stretching to set it on the desk by his bed.

“That's okay! You can eat it whenever you feel like it...uh…” Plagg trailed off when Adrien laid his head back down and turned away.

“Hey, you know what, the days not quite over yet, why doesn't Chat Noir hit the town yeah? Run around a bit, you love that don’t you?” 

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do Plagg… I really do… and as much as I hate being Adrien right now… I don’t really deserve to be Chat Noir either...I… I just want to go to bed…” 

It was hard to tell since Adrien’s back was to Plagg, but he could hear Adrien’s voice starting to bubble with emotion. Hovering to the other side of Adrien, Plagg saw that Adrien had a few tears sliding down his face which he wiped away with his shoulder. 

Even if Plagg wanted to provide Adrien with a 10 page essay on why he deserved to be Chat Noir more than anyone in Paris and that what happened would never change that, he settled on respecting Adrien’s wish to get some sleep. Curling up next to Adrien’s arm to provide a little bit of comfort, Adrien didn’t move or respond in any way until there was a sniffle; Plagg felt a hand gently pet his head one time before going still again.

Maybe Plagg wasn’t as entirely bad at this as he thought.

* * *

Alya swiped down on her phone to bring down her notifications. “No Marinette, within the last thirty seconds I have _ not _heard back from Nino, which probably means he hasn’t heard back from Adrien.” she sighed. 

Marinette was curled up in bed face timing Alya. She groaned. The day after she hears such awful news about Chat, Adrien doesn't show up to school. What is the world doing to her boys??

“I’m just so worried, it’s not like Adrien to miss school. In all the months he’s been here, he’s never missed a day! What- what if one day turns into two, then three, then-” Marinette gasped as a horrifying thought struck her. “_ What if he’s not coming back at all?!” _

Alya gave a reassuring smile, though she couldn’t help being a little amused at Marinette's extreme reactions to the slightest problems revolving Adrien. 

“Girl relax! I’m sure whatever the reason he wasn’t at school today is completely not as bad as you think. You know Adrien, always being run ragged with so many extracurricular's, he probably just got sick. Or! Or...” She held up her finger like she had a show stopping idea.

“He’s just taking a free day.”

Marinette wasn’t entirely convinced.

“You really think his dad would let him just... stay home?”

Alya’s reassuring demeanor was replaced with a sly smile. “What? You’ve never played hooky before?”

“Alya!” Marinette laughed like she just told her a crazy secret. “I suppose you’re right… as usual.”

“I try my best Mari!...Though you know I never stop pursuing a story until I have all the facts, you’ll be the first person I tell if I hear anything.” 

“Thanks Alya.” Marinette softly smiled.

“I gotta get to bed, but before I go, do me a favor and stop overthinking for just a little while so you can get some sleep too okay?” Alya laughed. 

“Sure thing. Night Alya.”

“See you tomorrow Mari!” Alya hung up.

Turning over to her side she pulled the covers up closer to her face. The whole “not overthinking” part was just a little hard. How was she supposed to not worry when she had no idea what was going on? That pretty much just left the door open for her imagination to run wild.

How was she supposed to make sure Adrien was okay if he never came back to school? In the back of her mind she was also having the same dilemma with Chat Noir. After Plagg showing up to her room last night, Marinette wanted nothing more than to comfort Chat and make sure he was okay too. But with no akuma attack since yesterday afternoon, she couldn’t exactly talk with him easily.

Alya was right instead of overthinking about the two she really could use a good night's sleep. She can’t do anything at the moment, the best thing she can do now is to face tomorrow with a clear head.

Just as Marinette was drifting to sleep she heard her lower latch door open.

“_ Marrineeeeette~” _

That wasn’t a voice Marinette immediately recognized. Sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she mumbled. “M-mom?”

Footsteps were heard followed by the sound of someone slowly climbing up the stairs to Marinette’s bed.

Feeling her fear rising, she quietly whispered out to Tikki. “T-Tikki?”

Who popped out from underneath her blanket.

Suddenly a hand gripped the railing to the end of Marinette's bed causing her to squeal in alarm.

“_ Marrineeeeette, Do you reeaaaally want to know why I wasn’t at school today…” _cooed the blonde face that slowly crept closer.

“W-uh-wh- _ Adrien?!” _

_ “I’m home schooled again, by my beautiful tutor Chlooo_ _é!” _

Marinette screamed, throwing her blanket over Adrien as he crawled closer. Jumping over him she scrambled to get up to the deck just outside her room. Shutting the latch she backed away from it as Tikki phased through and followed her.

“What kind of nightmare is this Tikki?”

Interrupted by the sound of screaming and chaos bellow Marinette leaned over the railing to see what the commotion was. People where running and screaming every which way being chased by weird monstrosities of all different kinds. Floating above them was a mysterious figure that looked like they were floating on a cloud raining pink sand.

“_The Sandboy just checked in...now nightmares can begin…” _

Marinette gasped. “Looks like I spoke too soon about there not being an akuma today Tikki, he must be bringing everyone’s nightmares to life!”

As if on cue the Adrien that was left below lifted up the latch.

_ “Marineeette… the prettiest and smartest one of all is Chlooéé~” _

Filled with a newfound courage from finding out this whole thing is just from an akuma, Marinette ran over and slammed the latch shut again. 

“We have to stop him from turning Paris into one giant nightmare Tikki, _ spots on!” _

There was a brief flash of light as Marinette transformed into Ladybug and zipped away.

Meanwhile the real Adrien was sitting in his bed at home flipping through a book. Next to him was Plagg snoring away lost in a cat nap. 

The whole day he’s been going back and forth from sitting in his bed to his desk to his couch. After getting a little slice of what life is like not cooped up at home; doing what he previously used to do all day really just didn’t cut it anymore. It was _ extremely _dull. Though in order to have stayed home at all, he promised to simply work on his studies in bed. He was supposed to have a “fever” after all.

Though he felt a bit sad that he didn’t go to school today. When he woke up he felt absolutely awful. Usually when he wakes up to an off day he knows exactly how to act and what to say to keep the facade that everything ay okay! But… after what happened he couldn’t bring himself to go to school...or do much of anything really. Everything just… felt heavier than usual. Needing more time to process some feelings, he didn’t quite know how to pretend everything was fine just yet.

So here he was sitting in bed lazily flipping through a book that he more or less wasn’t even reading, when all of a sudden something out the window, almost outside his gaze, caught his eye. Glancing up slightly he saw a cloud of orange and pink dust gently floating down. Twisting his face slightly in confusion, he softly lowered his book and sat up a little. 

His fixation on the window was replaced by sudden terror as metal bars started sliding down the window panes. Slamming down on the ground with a loud bang. 

Letting out a scared noise that was somewhere between a groan and a whimper, he threw off his blanket and tried to wake up his kwami.

“Plagg wake up!!” He yowled, shaking the blanket Plagg was sleeping on to jostle him awake.

“_WhoWhat Where W- _What’s goin on!” 

Looking around the room there were more metal bars sliding down the walls trapping the two inside the room. The sudden clang of metal behind Adrien made him yelp and jump out of bed seeking refuge in the middle of the room while more and more bars were closing in around them.

“Plaaaggg…!” Adrien whined, spinning around frantically trying to look for a way out.

Plagg was hovering next to Adrien's shoulder looking around in the same fashion. “Is this some kind of new security system?!”

Finally the bars seemed to stop and Adrien’s heart almost began to stop racing. 

"Plagg-"

Throwing his arms up to shield his eyes, Adrien was interrupted by a flash of white light. Blinking to get rid of the blue and purple spots in his vision, he looked around to try and find the source of the flash. Only to be greeted with more. It was almost like he was at a photo shoot. 

He stopped spinning and just screwed his eyes shut, covering his face with his hands. 

Plagg, looked around before realizing that despite the flashing there wasn't actually anyone else in the room. His eyes finally came back to Adrien. The kwami Inhaled sharply at the sight, Adrien looked like he was about to have a breakdown. He flew close to Adrien face, which was still covered with his hands. 

_"Adrien, I don't know how, but what your seeing isn't really real, okay?? It's just me and you!"_

Adrien pulled his hands away slightly and looked to Plagg. There was another flash and Adrien scrunched his eyes again.

Plagg reached out and gently touch Adrien's face with his paw. "You can do this Adrien, just transform and we can get out of this place. I promise."

The sweet sincerity of Plagg's tone brought Adrien out of it, he looked up at him once more with teary eyes. After a moment he whimpered. "Plagg, Claws out."

The phoney camera flashes were drowned out from the flash of Adrien transforming into Chat Noir. With his eyes still screwed shut he yelled out cataclysm and broke all of the bars. With all of metal containing him turned into dust the flashing stopped. Sliding open the window Chat jumped out. Hopping from one rooftop to the next, only to find just about everyone in Paris was having a nightmare of their own.

Landing on the edge of a building he looked around at the absolute chaos unfolding on the streets of Paris, struggling for a moment to catch his breath.

“What is this mess??”

Since he said that more to himself, he didn’t expect a response. 

“Looks like the work of an akuma.” Yelping, Chat jumped up when Ladybug landed next to him. Upon seeing it was just his partner he visibly relaxed but he didn't say anything.

The fact that Chat had no greeting response or a random remark did not go unnoticed by Ladybug. As he looked away it broke her heart, but she couldn't let that drag her down in the midst of an akuma.

"We have to find this Sandboy before things get too out of hand.”

There was a loud thundering boom in the distance and the two wobbled for a moment as the building they were standing on shook in response. Across the way there was a giant explosion and just outside of the fiery cloud was the ‘Sandboy’ in question.

“Look!” Ladybug yelled, pointing at a figure floating in the distance. Looking up Chat noticed a small person in the air, sprinkling that pink and orange dust he saw earlier.

“His cloud is shaped like a pillow!” Ladybug confidently looked back over to Chat Noir spinning her yo yo. “I bet you anything that’s where his akuma is!”

Nodding once and, Chat Noir sprung into action swinging his staff down onto Sandboy. After came Ladybug following suit. Between their two attacks Sandboy managed to dodge them both before Ladybug and Chat landed swiftly on one of the rooftops below.

Giving a devilish smile like this was a game he couldn’t possibly lose, Sandboy started blasting out these bombs of sand from the tip of the pillow he was flying on. Rapidly trying to hit one of the two. 

“You won’t be able to fight your worst nightmare for long!”

Chat Noir and Ladybug dove in different directions frantically trying to avoid the sand. Vaulting over walls sticking out of the roof she was on Ladybug hid behind one to try and give her a moment's protection from the blasts.

“He’s moving too fast!” She yelled.

On the other side of the building Chat Noir did the same thing. Wondering how long his temporary shield will last being assaulted with blasts of sand.

Ladybug thought for a moment before she decided to use her power.

“Lucky Charm!”

Just as her special item was about to form, Ladybug cried out in pain from being hit with a blast of sand. Her lucky charm fading away as it was interrupted before it was completed. Being thrown a few feet back from the blast, her body slid a little ways across the rooftop. Looking at the floor around her and at her yo yo she was disappointed to see that he lucky charm had failed. While Ladybug was distracted Sandboy hovered in closer.

“Guess who's about to get his hands on a pretty jewel!”

Ladybug got up and growled in frustration. Swinging her yo yo hard at Sandboy. Only… her yo yo weakly swang a few feet before swinging back to her.

“Huh?” Ladybug muttered confused as she tried swinging it again only to get the same results. Turning she tried jumping over the wall she was cornered against but only left a few feet off the ground.

“What’s happening??”

In her moment of weakness Sandboy lunged at her swiping at her face in a desperate attempt to get her earrings. Yelping she quickly evaded his advance but in the process lost her footing and started to slide down the roof. Catching herself at the last moment, she only had one hand tightly grasping the ledge as she dangled helplessly five stories in the air. 

Sandboy took his chance and reached down struggling to reach Ladybugs earrings. Seeing her grip starting to slip, Chat Noir called out to her. 

“Ladybug!”

Jumping from ledge to ledge Chat ran to her as fast as he could, when Ladybugs grip was finally lost. Screaming as she was rapidly approaching an unhappy ending, Chat Noir lunged off of a light post hanging off of the building they were on and grabbed Ladybug midair.

Landing gracefully on the ground with a soft thud, Sandboy flew over them. Dusting them with his pink sand.

“The Sandboy just checked in, now _ your _nightmare can begin, Cat!”

Chat Noir scowled. Setting Ladybug down and spinning his staff as it was an invitation for Sandboy to do his worst. “Stay behind me, Ladybug.”

This was the first time she's heard him speak tonight, and his voice was dark with emotion. Ladybug couldn't tell whether that was because of Sandboy or not but it worried her.

“You- You still have your powers...” She stated.

Chat Noir looked away.

After a beat, there was a voice.

_ “Oh Chat Noooir!” _

The two flinched, looking up to the rooftop they were just on stood a second Ladybug. She looked exactly like the one next to him, though her voice was dripping with malice.

_"Bad Kitty! I will never love you! Not after I found out about your filthy secret!”_

Chat revolted like her words physically burned him. “D-don't listen to her, Ladybug. She doesn't know what she's talking about." His voice wavered but he tried to keep calm.

The nightmare bug gave a devious laugh. _ “Don’t know what I’m talking about! Oh that’s funny, as if there aren’t pictures to prove it. You disgusting cat. You don’t deserve to be my partner anymore.” _

She threw her yo yo in the air. “_ Lucky Charm!!” _

Unlike the real Ladybugs previous lucky charm this one was a success. After a flash of pink light down came a massive red and black spotted sword. Outfitted with all kinds of curves and spikes. Now yielding it and ten times more dangerous, the nightmare ladybug jumped off the roof and brought the sword down where the two stood.

Grabbing the real Ladybug and jumping out of the way at the last second. The two landed roughly on the ground rolling over each other a few feet before finally coming to a stop. Looking down at Ladybug Chat quickly got off of her.

“S- um, sorry.”

Turning to the fake one in front of them he put his fists up ready to fight. Taking a protective stance in front of the real Ladybug

The nightmare bug laughed again and hoisted her giant sword back up. “_ Ha! You think you're going to protect her? When you can’t even protect yourself? You’re as dumb as you are dirty, kitty!” _

_ “Shut up!” _Chat yelled as nightmare bug leaped at him once more. Slicing the air Chat once stood in as he continued to dodge her relentless attacks.

Chat Noir jumped away as her blade came a little too close for comfort. Now standing close to the real Ladybug. Nightmare bug showed off her blade by fancily spinning it around with ease as she continued to taunt Chat Noir.

“_Here kitty kitty.” _

Sandboy took this opportunity to come in behind the two as nightmare bug started advancing in front of them with her own attack. 

Just as the two were going to unleash their attack on Chat and Ladybug, Chat Noir equipped his staff and pulled Ladybug in close. Quickly extending them up into the air, Sandboy and nightmare bug didn’t have enough time to react and ran into each other.

Letting gravity do its job, Chat’s staff shortened and the two were dropped off on the closest rooftop. Carrying Ladybug Chat started to run as fast as he could.

Chat vaulted over one of the small walls that divided sections of the rooftop when he had to skid to a stop. Sandboy quickly blocked his path forward.

“_Stay Still! Give me your miraculous, Ladybug!” _

Chat quickly turned back around and jumped back over the wall, only to be stopped by the nightmare Ladybug waiting for them.

_ “I know you like to play games kitty, but this is ridiculous.” _

Chat set Ladybug back down realizing he had no other choice than to face them.

_ “Come on!” _The nightmare barked.

Chat pushed the real Ladybug behind him. “Watch out Ladybug!”

The nightmare Ladybug leaped high into the air bringing her sword down onto Chat Noir, who blocked the brunt of the attack with his staff. Struggling for a moment he deflected her away as hard as he could. Only for her to smile wickedly and bounce straight back at him. 

Blocking and evading her unbelievably strong and rapid attacks Chat cried out. “Ladybug! I’m about to transform back, any ideas?!”

“Looking! Looking!” The real Ladybug stood a few meters behind them against the rooftop wall frantically trying to come up with an idea.

Smiling she finally got one that just might work. 

“Quick! We have to lure her over here!” She grabbed Chat’s tail and pulled him over to the wall where she was. Chat was surprised for a moment before he went along with it.

“You don't scare me.” He spun his staff around before planting it in front of him and resting his hands and chin on top of it. 

“You’re just a stupid dream.” He taunted.

The nightmare scowled. “We need to clean you up, filthy feline. Good thing there's about to be a bloodbath!” 

Nightmare bug leapt into the air one last time and aimed to bring her sword down on Chat Noir's head.

“_Now!!” _Ladybug yelled, and Chat jumped out of the way. Causing the nightmare's sword to be lodged into the wall the two were standing in front of. The tip of her sword broke off and flung into the air.

“Follow me!”

Chat scrambled to get up and follow Ladybug who was running towards the broken sword piece that went flying. Grabbing it she dashed towards Sandboy who was hovering in the air a little ways away from the rooftop they were on. 

_ “Give me you’re Miraculo- !” _

Sandboy cut himself off in surprise as Ladybug reached the edge of the rooftop and jumped off of it towards him, though he was still a good ways away.

“Chat Noir now!”

As Chat reached the edge of the rooftop he extended his staff. Grabbing Ladybug in the air he took her all the way to Sandboy. As they flew past him Ladybug used the sword piece to slice the bottom of the pillow Sandboy was standing on open.

Chat landed swiftly on the ground below with Ladybug in hand. Looking up, they watched as Sandboy’s floating pillow fell apart. Sandy dust spilling out of the bottom, Sandboy lost his balance and started to fall. Quickly standing up Chat moved to catch the sandboy before he fell. Landing in Chat’s arms, the akumatized pillow drifted to the floor. A black butterfly fluttering out from the giant tear.

Ladybug threw the broken tip of the nightmares lucky charm sword into the air.

“_Miraculous Ladybug!” _

A giant wave a pink light burst across the sky. A swarm of magical ladybugs flew across Paris erasing all the damage done and everyone's raging nightmares. Sandboy was sitting down rubbing his head as he de-transformed from his akuma and turned back into a little boy.

“Pound it!”

Chat turned to see Ladybug smiling holding up her fist for their celebratory fist bump. He looked at Ladybug then to her fist then back up to Ladybug and gave a soft smile.

Lifting up his hand he bumped it against Ladybug's. 

The swarm of miraculous ladybugs finally made their way back around and restored Ladybugs powers. Sliding open her yo yo, it unfolded and a soft pink light glowed out of it.

“Hey, it's working again!” She swung it around to be sure.

“No more evil doing for you little akuma...time to de-evilize!” With one final swing she captured the akuma and let it go once it was purified. 

“Well, what was that all about little friend?” Ladybug warmly smiled as she crouched in front of the little boy who was just akumatized.

He was beyond relieved to see Ladybug and reached out to tightly hug her, which Ladybug softly returned. 

“Oh Ladybug, I watched a movie on T.V and it was _ really scary! _When I went to bed I had a really bad nightmare, and when I woke up, there was a black butterfly in my room and this scary voice in my head!”

Ladybug’s expression turned to one of sympathy. “Aww, poor fella. Well don’t worry, we’ll get you home safe and sound.”

Chat Noir’s ring gave one final warning beep.

“I'd love to but...I gotta go.”

Ladybug stood back up. “Of course Chat.”

Forcing a little smile Chat gave a two fingered wave and turned to leave.

“Uh, Chat Noir!” 

As turned around to look at his lady, Ladybug stepped closer to him and dropped her voice down to a whisper almost. 

“I know you’re about to de-transform but… about your nightmare…” Chat stiffened. “ I would _ never _ think anything like that about you...If you’re going through somethi-” 

Chat Noir cut her off. “Nonono it’s okay! I have _ no _ idea what you inferred from that nightmare but _ I-” _

As he emphasized the “ I “ he gestured to himself. 

“-am not going through anything. It's just..._late, _so I should reaallyy be going now-_” _

He turned to leave again when Ladybug grabbed his hand. “Chat please wa-”

Chat just ripped his hand out of her grasp. The smile he had was completely gone. "_I just can't talk right now okay?!”_

After a beat his expression dropped. Scrunching his face like the words that just left his mouth stung him on the way out.

“_I__’m sorry…” _

With that Chat Noir leapt onto the rooftops and disappeared. Leaving Ladybug alone with the boy.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette helps chat work through some feelings

When Ladybug made the decision to reach out and grab Chat’s hand she anticipated it going a little bit differently. The rest of the night the interaction played out in her mind over and over.

The way Chat reeled away like her touch was fire… the pain in his eyes…

It absolutely broke her heart. To think her attempt to be comforting by grabbing him would be effective, when his problem stems from being touched… not one of her brightest ideas.

She now understood why Plagg came to her for help. The situation Chat was going through was so delicate, and required lots of love and care and time. Despite the advice she did give Plagg, Marinette wasn’t completely sure how to go about comforting Chat either.

She only had the slightest idea about what Chat went through from what Plagg had briefly mentioned, either way whatever happened was affecting him majorly.

It’s been almost a week since the incident, though it seemed he was only feeling worse and worse. Since their run in with Sandboy there's been two other akuma attacks. Chat being the last to show up and the first to leave both times. He stopped with the jokes, the banter, and even the flirting. It was like he was a completely different person. When Ladybug would interact with him, he didn’t necessarily act sad in any way he just seemed...hollow.

He had apologized again for yelling at her the night of the Sandboy attack, but that was the only time he had acknowledged his feelings since then.

She wanted to help him more than anything.

Well almost anything.

When Ladybug wasn’t being Ladybug she was mostly at school being Marinette. Where she noticed that another one of her friends was also going through a hard time.

Obviously she didn’t have the foresight to know that they were the same person; though he seemed to be more of a puzzle than Chat was.

Adrien skipped that one day of school, and through a miracle, managed to convince his father to let him take just one more day off to once again recover from his “fever”. Returning the next day that’s exactly what he told Nino.

_‘Sorry for not getting back to your messages Nino...I was sick in bed with a fever...It was pretty bad.’_

Marinette watched Nino talk to Adrien from the seat behind. He seemed tired… he was acknowledging what Nino was saying but something about him gave off the impression that his mind was somewhere else.

Marinette tossed the thought in the background as class began. In all honesty, Adrien just said he had a bad fever. He’s probably still coming down from it.

At least that's what she thought. The notion began to seem less true when Adrien’s best attempt at a smile couldn’t seem to cover all his doom and gloom. And to top that off, he began to distance himself slightly from his friends.

Instead of exiting class chatting next to Nino, he walked out by himself. Instead of hanging out with the group during lunch break, he went back to going home to eat_._ He stopped consistently replying to messages and didn’t hang out much after school anymore.

As Marinette troubleshooted in her head, she came to a few conclusions.

One, this could all just be...somewhat... normal Adrien stuff. Despite Adrien being the human form of a ray of sunshine, he actually can be quite shy and soft spoken. Not to mention busy. On a normal day Adrien probably has a million different things going on at any given moment. If the fact that he’s busy isn’t the reason he’s being distant, maybe the stress of it all is really getting to him.

Two, Adrien doesn’t… really have the warmest home life. His father is so cold to him. Also the whole thing about his mother. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he was upset about that.

Or three, it was something else entirely. When Nino or herself asked if he was okay he quickly dismissed it. Plastering a smile on his face in order for it to sell. Though Marinette was not buying it.

Something was wrong. She just didn’t know what.

And just like with Chat she didn’t want to push it and stick her nose into personal stuff.

Sighing, Marinette closed the textbook she was failing miserably to read. She came out onto her balcony to maybe get some fresh air and focus better but it was not working so well.

Taking in the faint noise of the city falling asleep and the ambiance of the night air, she sat in silence for a moment collecting her thoughts. Yawning softly she pulled out her phone to check the time. It was nine o’clock bordering on ten.

Ehh, if she skimmed, she could probably get the reading done on her way to school tomorrow or while she ate breakfast. Collecting her things she started to get up to go inside when movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

In the inky blackness of night, it was thanks to the lights of the city and the moon she was able to make out the figure.

It was Chat Noir.

He was running across the rooftops just across her house. She watched him for a moment before he jumped out of view.

Quite the enigma that cat.

Marinette quickly opened the latch and dropped onto her bed where Tikki was.

“Tikki, I just saw Chat Noir run by, should- should I follow him?... What if there's an akuma or something?”

Tikki yawned. “I don’t know Marinette… I don’t think I sense any akuma activity. He must just be getting some fresh air like you were.”

Mari was sitting on her knees next to Tikki on the bed. “...I guess you’re probably right Tikki… but what if it’s not?”

Tikki sat up rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “Would it make you feel better if we checked?”

Marinette nodded before she called spots on.

Jumping out of the latch in her ceiling, she leapt from rooftop to rooftop in the direction Chat Noir was running.

She searched and searched for any sign of activity. Through the dimly lit streets all was still. There were a few people out an about but no sign of her kitty or any akuma.

After about ten more minutes of patrolling Ladybug gave way to defeat and made her way back home.

The next night she decided to hang around on her balcony to see if Chat would run by again. And as if like clock work, she eventually spotted him running along the same path he took the previous night. Curiosity taking over she called out to him.

“uh, Chat! Hey Chat Noir!” Marinette waved.

Stopping like a deer in the headlights Chat Noir turned in the direction of the voice. Realizing it was Marinette calling to him he padded over. Jumping across a few fixtures he landed softly on her railing.

“Hello, Marinette.”

His eyes flitted back and forth from her to the ground not sure where to look. “Is...something the matter?” He questioned, not sure why she would flag him down like that.

Oops, she didn’t quite rehearse what she was going to say to him. “Ohhh no, I just um, wanted to say hi!...I erm...I just have been seeing you run by the past few nights and was wondering if everything was okay…”

“Oh!...Right um, sorry about that, I didn’t mean to make you worry. Everything’s fine. I promise where I’m going has got nothing to do with Paris threatening stuff.” He smiled.

“I know that Paris is fine, especially with you taking care of it. What I meant was...is everything okay...with _you_...”

Marinette waited a moment for a response. She had no idea if she was crossing any boundaries by asking him this as Marinette instead of Ladybug since they aren’t as close. But it was worth a shot. Since the few times they’ve talked, Chat had seemed more open to his worrying emotions to Marinette than he was with Ladybug.

Chat’s expression began to sadden; Marinette thought she had made a mistake until he started to speak.

“It’s fine Marinette I… I don’t want to burden you with my troubles…”

“No no It’s okay!” Marinette hesitated for a moment but then rested a hand as gently as she possibly could on Chat’s knee. “You can tell me…”

Chat shifted from crouching on the rail to sitting on it, his legs dangling on the side Marinette was standing on as opposed to over the edge.

“Well... I guess If I’m being honest… I really don’t know… things have just been so heavy lately… I’ve been trying to put myself at ease a-and for a while I thought I was... Getting better I mean, since I haven’t been feeling as sad but… I haven’t been feeling much else either… being Chat Noir is one of the only things that makes me feel alive...Though… I suppose it's not working as much as it used to…”

Marinette was quiet for a moment as she took in what Chat was saying.

"I'm...I'm so sorry to hear that Chat, I wish I- I could take away your sadness and help you feel whole again. You’re such a kind, genuine person… you don’t deserve to feel such pain...if… if you need to get something off your chest you can always talk to me."

Chat’s eyes widened slightly at Marinette’s caring gesture.

“Thank you Mari…I just don’t know if I should, I-” Chat’s words died on his tongue as he looked away. It was apparent what he wanted to say was having a hard time coming out.

“…this might sound kind of silly...actually _really_ silly because I can’t think of a single way to say it that doesn't sound completely weird, so don’t laugh at me... but...I… I like to pretend that me and...and the person I am behind this mask are… different people.” Chat's face kinda scrunched up like he just told her something embarrassing. Though in Chat's mind it probably was.

Marinette blinked. She didn’t find it weird at all and she didn’t find it amusing or anything she just… didn’t know how to respond. Thankfully seeing her blank expression Chat explained.

“It’s just.. easier to leave all my worries behind when they temporarily belong to someone else..Technically. So… I don't wanna ruin the illusion by talking about it as Chat Noir… if that makes sense”

It seemed he started to think about something troubling because his calmness deflated. Pressing his face into his gloves he groaned.

“Though regardless of who I am o-or how much I want to talk about it I… I just can’t…” He looked back up into Marinette's eyes. “I hope you understand.. Marinette.”

As Chat looked into her’s she looked into his. Inside she saw the same pain in his eyes from the night of the Sandboy attack.

“I do… I know that talking about things can be so hard and that it might feel better to just repress it and not have to go through the pain of thinking about it but… If you do want to talk about it… maybe you can write it instead?”

Chat’s expression softened as he thought about the suggestion.

“I-I uhm I didn’t...I didn't bring a pen…” He stuttered.

“Its okay I have some do..do you want to? I fully understand if you don’t want to for any reason.”

“...I...suppose I could..give it a try.” He muttered. He felt like there were a bunch of butterflies in his belly, and not the good kind of stomach butterflies. Akumas were more like it. He briefly thought about how the Nightmare Ladybug reacted to supposedly knowing his "secret", though the thought was buried almost as quick as it arrived. 

“Okay, I’ll be right back okay? Don’t go anywhere.”

Marinette turned to leave but then turned back around.

“I- I mean unless you want to, I didn’t mean to demand it I just mean-”

“Nono I get it, I’m not going anywhere.” Chat reassured with a soft smile.

Marinette returned the smile before heading back down the latch into her room.

Chat idly fidgeted with his hands while he waited for Marinette to come back up. After a moment the latch opened again and Marinette climbed back up with a pen and a notepad in hand.

“If… if you’re having any doubts you don’t have to I just… I want to help.”

Gently he took the pen and notepad. “I really appreciate it Marinette.. Thank you…”

Chat twirled the pen in his hand as he stared down at the tiny notepad he was holding. It was a long moment before he went to press the pen down on the paper as if to write; however, he froze.

Chewing on the inside of his cheek he struggled to put his thoughts into words.

Marinette stood watching his hand hover slightly over the notepad patiently waiting for him. There was a beat where nothing happened before Marinette saw a drop fall on the notepad.

Her eyes moved from the notepad up to Chat and noticed that the single drop that fell.. was a tear.

“Chat?...”

She noticed his grip on the pen tighten as he sniffled. _“I...I can’t…”_

Marinette stepped closer to Chat; one hand covering the notepad while the other gently resting on the hand holding the pen. “Oh Chat, It’s okay I’m- I’m right here..”

Stifling a sob he quickly wiped his eyes. _“I- I’m sorry, Mari, I shouldn’t be crying._ I’m not usually like this...I’m not- I’m not _supposed_ to be like this..”

Marinette kept her one hand on his but moved her other to very gently wipe a tear off of his cheek.

“No it’s okay! You don’t have to apologize for anything It’s… It’s okay to cry you know…”

“But...I’m supposed to be a superhero.” He choked.

Marinette shifted her hand so it was holding Chat’s hand instead of resting on top of it.

“You _are_ a superhero, Chaton.” Her eyes held nothing but compassion.

Something in Chat’s expression changed. Though it was too abstract to define. It was as if something inside of him had clicked, so to speak.

Without warning he pulled Marinette into a hug. It took Marinette a brief second to register what had just happened. The force of the hug was so sudden and borderline intense it was as if Chat had decided to hug her with his last dying breath.

Marinette returned the hug which in turn made Chat ever so slightly tighten his embrace. From the inside of Marinette’s shoulder he spoke so gently and so raw with emotion that if it weren’t for the fact that he was right by her ear and that the night air was so still she might not have understood him.

_“Thank you..Marinette…”_

“Hey… what are friends for, huh?”

And with that, Chat pulled away so he could look at Marinette once more. “I’m… I’m your friend?”

Marinette smiled. “Am I yours?”

Her smile must have been contagious because Chat couldn’t help but smile in return. The most genuine one he's had in a while.

“One of my best.”

Sniffling Chat wiped at his nose, attempting to compose himself. The two chatted a bit more before he tried to excuse himself. Though Marinette wouldn't let him leave without taking a few pastries leftover from the day.

Bringing them back up to him he seemed... happier. Even though he didn't talk about anything really, the way he carried himself as he left seemed like there wasn't quite as much on his shoulders as there was before. Which to Marinette, was a definite win.

Now if only she could let Adrien know she was there for him too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> forgive me for high-key not tying up the loose ends with Vincent and future photo shoots I just got tired and mostly wanted to focus on Adrien, though i decided to turn this into a short series tho and have a few more chapters to tie up some loose ends and focus on Adrien's healing process, which should be out soon! thanks again for reading ily


End file.
